CA And BCCI Look To Put Harbhajan Issue Behind Them

Tuesday 29 January 2008

A joint statement on behalf of Cricket Australia (CA) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has iterated a desire from both parties to draw a line under the recent controversy surrounding the Harbhajan Singh racial abuse case.
Harbhajan was earlier today cleared of racially abusing Andrew Symonds during the second Test match between Australia and India in Sydney, instead being found guilty of using obscene language and fined 50 percent of his match fee.
The statement read:
"Controversy surrounding the incident involving Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds on day three of the 3 mobile Sydney Test has come to a constructive conclusion today, before the ICC Code of Conduct Commission presided over by New Zealand Judge John Hansen.
"Singh and Symonds said they had resolved the on-field issue between them in Sydney and now intend to move on.
"They said they intended to make no further comment on the issue and intended to get on with the game of cricket, which is the most important issue for each of them.
"Both captains also said they were satisfied with the outcome between their respective players and they looked forward to the cricket battles that lie ahead of the two nations which are currently the top two ranked Test nations in world cricket.
"As with Singh and Symonds, they intend to make no further public comment on the issue, preferring to leave on-field performances between the teams to speak for themselves."
A Twenty20 International between the two sides will take place in Melbourne on February 1st, before the Commonwealth Bank one-day series, also including Sri Lanka, kicks off two days later.